20 years later, Katrina transplant has spread New Orleans jazz in Charlotte

Axios

16 hours ago

Twenty years ago, Lonnie Davis evacuated New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, not knowing she would never return home.
Why it matters: Though Davis' arrival in Charlotte wasn't something she'd planned, the longtime New Orleanian has made a lasting impact on the city's culture.
To cope with missing home, she formed the JazzArts organization, bringing a piece of Louisiana to Charlotte and transforming the jazz scene in a New South city that had previously lacked one.
Zoom out: It's estimated that more than 1.2 million people evacuated ahead of Katrina. Axios Local reporters across the U.S. are highlighting some of their stories.
Flashback: Davis was about five months pregnant and working at a Canal Street hotel when Katrina began heading toward her city. Many of her coworkers were clocking out early as they watched the storm's trajectory and made evacuation decisions.
Davis made the call, too. But not without a quick detour. She stopped to join in a second line, parading with hundreds in the streets.
"It was very windy, and there were colorful feathers and brass bands and just people everywhere," Davis remembers. "In the back of my mind, I was like — if this storm hits the city, this could be gone and this could be lost forever."
She took in the moment, then drove home, boarded up her newly purchased house, packed up her family and headed toward Houston.
It wasn't until the next morning, when they turned on the hotel TV, that she realized life would never be the same.
A helicopter broadcast showed how high the water rose on the rollercoasters at Jazzland, the amusement park next to Davis' mother's house. When the shot panned to her mom's neighborhood, she couldn't see a car in the driveway.
Davis and her family spent two weeks in Houston, then headed to Virginia, where Davis' sister lived. They stayed in a cohousing community, and Davis gave birth to her second daughter in Roanoke that January. A year later, the family realized they needed to find their new "place." Davis heard Charlotte had an international language school, where her oldest daughter could continue her French studies.
"We, one day, took a ride to explore Charlotte. Liked what we saw," Davis said. "On our second visit, we were moving our stuff."
And they figured, it's a big city. It must have a thriving jazz scene.
But it didn't. They realized quickly the great jazz artists were overlooked and disconnected, Davis said. And the youth weren't learning the art, either.
"I immediately looked around and said, 'Wow, these kids are missing out,'" she said. "'They have no idea what the possibilities are.'"
Davis fell in love with music at a young age. Picking up the flute in the fifth grade, playing by ear came naturally to her.
"I thought everyone could do it," she said. "I learned any song that I wanted to learn — cartoons, movie soundtracks, whatever I heard."
Jazz was central to her schooling. She attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and studied under the renowned musician Ellis Marsalis.
When she settled in Charlotte, she started working at Community School of Arts (now Arts+), gaining an understanding of the nonprofit world. She developed the vision for JazzArts and launched it in 2009.
The big picture: More than 15 years later, JazzArts is still the only jazz nonprofit organization in the region. Their mission is to unite the community by supporting local musicians and bringing the world's best players to Charlotte.
But what Davis is most proud of is the educational programs. Over the past 15 years, JazzArts has educated over 50,000 students.
"They're my inspiration," she said. "The only reason that this organization exists is because I was one of those students, and the music changed my life."
Young musicians also ensure the genre lives on.
What's next: Davis has ambitions for JazzArts, like opening a center and organizing a jazz festival.